"HT 034 now resides in Tasmania, the only W.O. Car in State. Still owned by Chester McKaige and used regularly."

1925 Bentley 3.0-litre Speed
This treasured 1925 Bentley 3.0-litre has been part of the same family for nearly 60 years, yet its beginnings with the McKaige clan were no more romantic than those of your typical urban runabout.

"My grandfather bought it for my father in 1947," says the Bentley's current owner, Chester McKaige. "It was just like it is today - a father buys his son his first car and he uses it to go to work, go to uni, to do all those sorts of things."

It's a strange concept for a member of a generation raised on a diet of Corollas, Geminis and other humble nameplates. But having a Bentley for a first car was nothing unusual in the postwar years says Mr McKaige.

"It was just an old car at that stage," he says. "You could have bought a Bugatti or a Vauxhall 30/98 or whatever for the same money. He just happened to like Bentleys as a kid."

The Bentley had been around the block a few times by the time Mr McKaige's father got his hands on it. It was built in September 1925 and arrived in Australia in March 1926, sporting a red four-seater Vanden Plas body.

The original owner, no doubt emulating Bentley's extensive motor sport involvement at the time, regularly used his new acquisition in hill climbs and trials in addition to daily commuting. It's thought that it was during one of these events that the Bentley rolled down a ravine, badly damaging the chassis and body.

Repaired, fitted with a new coupe body and painted black, the Bentley was sold on to a new owner, a Bentley dealer from Carnegie, sometime in the 1930s. He removed the coupe body and fitted the black four-seater touring body the car still wears today.

"It (the body) was made in East St Kilda," Mr McKaige says. "It looks like it came off another Bentley, though I've never been able to determine which one."

Mr McKaige's father used the Bentley as everyday transport until he left for a stint in England in 1952. The pair weren't reunited until 1961, but the Bentley wasn't back on the road until 1965. Thereafter, McKaige snr used the car to contest the occasional Bentley club rally and other events.

By 1975, however, the Bentley was showing its age. It was taken off the road for a full restoration, but work was intermittent over the next 20 years. When failing health forced his father to cease work on it in 1995, Mr McKaige stepped in to finish the job. He was well qualified for the task, having restored a bevy of classic and vintage English cars over the years.

The Bentley is more than 80 years old but the engine specifications read like that of a much more modern car. "It's got a single overhead camshaft, twin carbies, twin ignition and four valves per cylinder," Mr McKaige says proudly. "And it's also got two spark plugs per cylinder."

"Bentley built aero engines through the First World War and you can see a lot of aircraft nuances, in particular the twin ignition. I guess you could say he was fairly ahead of his time."

It's perhaps not surprising, then, that the Bentley copes effortlessly with the demands of open-road driving.

"The brakes in it are phenomenal and the suspension's good, and it just lopes along," Mr McKaige adds. "It'll do 60 mph (100 km/h) day in, day out. It's been just about everywhere; I've done a lot of miles in it.

"And it's only come home on a flat-bed twice in 10 years, so it's pretty reliable."

Yes, Mr McKaige's loyalties might be divided, but there's no disputing which of his vintage British wonders holds the tightest grip on his heart.

"The Bentley is just something I'd never part with," he says. "If everything had to go and I had to keep just the one thing, I'd keep that."

In Australia in 2003 / Owned by a BDC member